Electronic Medical Prescription

Recently I've been reading a lot on programs started to achieve the possibility of Electronic Prescription (EP) in medical environments. It's interesting how something technically so near and available may take a lot of time to reach us. Technically an EP is just an electronic document signed and digitally processed... and its that complicate.
First of all we are talking about an issue that has had a lot of discussion around it: Medical Information. From a lot of time ago Medical Information and the Medical Record is one of the most zelously kept tresures. Laws are really tough in what can you do even with your own Medical Record. It's understandable then that EP has a lot to overcome on Personal Data Management Policys.
Because that, recently have been a bit of polemics around it. I'm sure finally we all will take with us our medical information, if not because it can save our lives, simply because it will be easy and secure enough to assure our compromised information will not be revealed to we don't want to.

Google Phone

In my previous post I talked about the conference I recently assisted. Well, this event has become a bit famous because when asked about the possibility of the GPhone Isabel Aguilera replied with an statement collected in my event notes: "Google follows the 70-20-10 rule: Invests 70% on core business, 20% in related business and 10% in far related business". It has been seen as a confession on rumours saying Google was planning a cellular phone development.
It's interesting seeing how a mere comment on a speech- actually an answer to a question - can become so important in this digital era we are living. I'm sure a lot of stock exchanges this days have been related with these words... the networking between facts in this 21st century world is really astonishing!

Google & Cuatrecasas

Yesterday morning I was in an event of APD at the WTC of Barcelona. The event was on Internet and its integration in the business strategy. The panel was exceptional, Isabel Aguilera, CEO of Google Spain and other high ranked personalities.
Unfortunately I just could attend the one of Google and Cuatrecasas. The first one was the most interesting although the second one was the most fun. They both were very complemented and made a good combination. The first one talked about the Google Philosophy and what it has to offer to the companies interested in doing business in Internet. Like always its point of view is fresh and challenging, notwithstanding they converted billions of webpages in just a rectangle in the middle of a white page - and it worked. That's the most important contribution from Google to the world, simplicity and ease of use. I think no one using Google Applications has ever read a manual. Even programming through the APIs of its applications is made simple!
The second one, by a member of the board of Cuatrecasas, a lawyers buffete, talked about the legal aspect of doing business in Internet. Nothing new under the sky, just some requirements because the environment, but the rules are the same. Interesting a comment he made on security: "Security is like love, you always want more but if you push too hard, it breaks".

Here are the notes (in Spanish and Catalan) I took in the event.

Master Thesis

These days, thanks to the book for the Information for Research course, I've been thinking a lot on what topic to do the Master Thesis about, and although I'm pretty sure of the area, I have no idea on the topic. The main area is Knowledge Management, from an economic and results oriented approach, but the fine subject is not clear.

I've found some links to take ideas, and what is more important, previous research on the topic, but I'm not able to align it with the framework on KM of my company. I'm sure it has to have a practical point of view, and that one of the returns must be a way to turn tangible the outcomes of a KM program in a company. How to address this objective without leaving the rigorous and academic approach? This is one of the challenges of the present season work!

P.S: Why languages are so strange, thesis is a doctoral dissertation in spanish and a dissertation is a master thesis... fool's world!

Starve the beast

One of the key statements that have put the spanish banking corporations ahead in Europe and in the world in efficiency and results is the one on "Starve the beast". Although its initial proposition of the term was intended to reduce the budgets of social spending fund by the government, it has succeded when applied to "beasts" as the huge operation costs like a bank has.
In Spain technology has been very reluctant in taking the place it has in the most part of the countries like it, but in the banking business it is the responsible of the good performance they have. Technology (and innovation) has been taken to the arena and become one of the issues in competition. It is Spain one of the more innovators in banking products of the Euro area and also an early technology adopter. It is sure that the passivity of the spanish consumer in the present service charges structure has something to do with it, but also the early realization that only reducing the greatests part of the costs associated with the day to day operation of the bank (the beast) would take them to improve its returns has. This is one of the objectives of the introduction of technology in the banking business. And it has indeed achieved it. At present spanish banking corporates are the second in efficiency in the EU. Maybe we have to do business as the banks and start to starve the beasts all the industries have in their every day operation.

Abstraction & Maps

Today I've assisted to an UML training really interesting. It's almost incredible how can we abstract of the real problem and model almost any situation and its solution with so few different artifacts. Even if we are talking on stem-cells, embedded software or business processes we can apply the same language and methodology and try to figure out and model the situation. And when a person familiar with this language aproaches to such a description interpret the real problem although he can not be an expert with the domain in question. Maybe is the next step in communication. First, human beings started showing each other physical things to try to communicate. They showed how two stone have to be crashed in order to produce fire. A bit, or a lot, later they where able to talk about things they have not in front of them, and they invented the language. Some ages after they (not yet we?) were able to have a conversation on a topic not physical but abstract, like an triangle. Know we have a language to precisely communicate the knowledge acquired in a domain in a small picture...

On saturday I went to the new faculty's library of Geography, History and Philosophy and saw in the screen of a person that was surfing the Internet, as actually was I, something like a knowledge map. It is worth it to try to investigate it and figure out what is it all about.

Knowledge Work

At present I'm reading a classical book related with one of the courses I've just started on the MSc. It has to do with the management of information for research and the title is certanly eloquent: Writing the doctoral dissertation. I have just started it but it begins with the letany: Knowledge work is not like clerical or manual work, it's very motivation dependant and productivity is hard to figure out. Anyhow, not for repeated is it going to become true but I feel really comfortable with this characteristics. I would add one, not mine but from my company's department: Knowledge work is deeply competence dependant. You can put a person without the competences-skills in front of a knowledge-based task and you'll get nothing. In manual or clerical work you may obtain a bad performance but the result in the knowledge one would be orders of magnitude bellow any substantial return (if any).
Because that, the book states, planning and management of knowledge work is even more important than in manual and clerical. If the nineteen and the first half of the past century was the time of manual work automation, the last half with clerical work automation, the present century, or at least the present start of it, is becoming the one of the knowledge work automation. Information context search engines, knowledge ontologies & patterns development, all the research stream in this area is going to dig deeper in the knowlege revolution we are nowadays living and although some rules are not going to change, it's importance growth may let we all surprised.